Mario Berti

Mario Berti (1881-1964) was a General of the Royal Italian Army who was in command of the Italian 10th Army from the summer of 1940 to 23 December 1940 during World War II.

Biography
Mario Berti was born in 1881 in La Spezia, Liguria, Italy to an upper middle-class family. Berti served in World War I at the Battle of Asiago, and Winston Churchill himself gave him a distinguished service medal; he became one of the youngest colonels in the Royal Italian Army's history aside from the royal family. From 1937 to 1938 he led the Corpo Truppe Volontarie expeditionary force during the Spanish Civil War and the Aragon Offensive, and he was an honored war hero. However, his protesting against Fascist Italy's entry into World War II due to the needed recovery of supplies and troops after the Spanish Civil War led to Benito Mussolini replacing him with Rodolfo Graziani, and Berti and Graziani became rivals. In the summer of 1940, Berti was given command of the Italian 10th Army in Libya at the start of World War II, and he led it during the invasion of Egypt. However, British general Archibald Wavell launched Operation Compass and destroyed the Italian forces, and Graziani refused to send Berti reinforcements. Berti, who was sick at the time of the attack, held his post until December, when Giuseppe Tellera was appointed as his replacement. He retired from the army after the September 1943 armistice and died in 1964.